Beijing: Chinese authorities have stopped issuing short-term visas to individuals from South Korea and Japan in retaliation for Covid restrictions imposed on Chinese travellers.

Visas for South Koreans entering China as tourists have been suspended, Beijing's embassy in Seoul was quoted as saying by BBC.

It's a tit-for-tat move which Beijing says will remain in place until "discriminatory" entry restrictions against China are lifted, reports BBC.

Recently, South Korea stopped issuing  tourist visas for those coming from China amid rising COVID-19 cases in the country.

Reacting to China's latest move, South Korea's foreign ministry told the BBC that its policy towards arrivals from China was "in accordance with scientific and objective evidence".

Japan meanwhile is currently allowing Chinese visitors into the country - provided they test negative for Covid, the British media reported.

China has witnessed a spike in COVID-19 cases in recent times.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about the COVID-19 surge in China, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday, in his first virtual briefing for the year.

“We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing,” he said, speaking from Geneva.

WHO is concerned about the risk to life in the world’s most populous country and reiterated the importance of stepping up vaccination coverage, including booster doses, particularly for vulnerable groups such as older persons.